The Divided - Equestria
by YeszCore
Summary: A' is soulless. But can he find his soul in the world of 5000, where nothing but the Human-exterminating Haosians, Hell-bound corruptions, and civilized ponies exist? CHAPTER ONE UNDER HEAVY REVISION. I SUGGEST NOT READING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Divide**_

_**Chapter one: Beyond the Island**_

The tune was ringing in A's head. It was singing something to him, messing with his thoughts, sapping every last drop of courage from his mind.

_I travel a dusty old road_

_ And carry on in ultimate terror_

_ The torture will grow while infinity's lost_

_ The lunatic fears the unknown_

_ THE UNKOOOOOOOOOOOWN!_

A red, swirling, burning portal creaked into life behind A', as he turned around.

_ INTO THE FIRE!_

A being of flames erupted from the portal, its menacing horns and manic grin visible through the orange tinge. It grabbed A', screaming, dragging him into the abyss of what he had called hell.

A' woke up in a cold sweat. He shot up from his bedspread, eyes bloodshot and widened, with tears streaming out of them.

It began then. The rollercoaster of pure insanity had begun.

* * *

In 13 years, he was going to tell somebody. He was going to ask for help, to cure him of his utter insomnia. Jogging up the street, the jog turned into a sprint, as he heard the voices stirring.

_No,_ He assured himself. _I will not give in today. Not to you, of all the horrid, accursed things in our world. _

A stronger, more dominant voice rained out from the shadows of his mind, following him, damning him to the silence of his mind.

_You're just part of our game_

_You're our slave to the grind_

_YOUR SANITY_

_GROWS WEAK_

_You're just part of our game_

_You're our slave to the grind_

"You won't take control again! NEVER AGAIN! I RID YOU OF MY SOUL!"

_YOU HOLD YOUR GROUND_

_UNTILL YOUR LAST BREATH_

_THE CYCLE ENDS_

_AND YOU'RE STUMBLING_

_This war_

_It rages on_

_Forever and ever_

_I WILL RETURN_

"I refuse to be you're victim! Show yourself, coward! SHOW YOURSELF!"A' cried. He sprinted into his parent's house, clutching his skull in fear and panic.

"Mom? Are you here?" He inquired. "Dad?"

He stopped in his tracks. All there was in the house was blood. Blood and fire, swallowing up the room, only a memory of what existed before the destruction.

He fell to his knees, sobbing.

"WHAT IS IT?" He cried. "WHATIS IT YOU WANT FROM ME?"

_YOUR SPIRIT_

_YOUR SANITY_

_YOUR SOOOOOOOUL_

* * *

"I told you, Elex, it takes time to draw!"

"Korlin, you drew it in a matter of seconds."

"Shut up! That wasn't even the finished project!"

"You call that a project?"

Korlin fumed. He had given up hiding his utter rage a very long time ago. His friends had been torturing him about his lack of drawing skill for the past ten minutes. Being a full-blooded Sicillian, he had a temper that would kill a school full of children if it was in the wrong body. And he was on the verge of killing a party full of wise-asses.

David, Korlin, Elex, and A' (his real name was Artliligox, his parents had been odd folk) were all together, chattering and horsing around as a whole. They were strolling back to A's house, after meeting up with Kristine.

It was a deceitfully cheerful day in Boston. The city had a particular hum to it. The people they knew greeted them with a smile and a wave, the guilt and stress of school suppressed and stored away for the summer. But today was different. The hum was more foreboding, more like a machine than a city of living things. Not everybody noticed it, though. In fact, only one person noticed it: A'. He was always uneasy about walking past towering skyscrapers. But this one here, it was like a towering mountain of metal. His imagination led him to believe all sorts of conspiracy theories, such as being abducted and thrown into cryogenic preservation._ Like in Futureama, _he always said.

"Why do we take this route all the time?" He inquired to his friends.

"Nostalgia value," replied David, his mop of a hanging, pure black haircut ever so slightly shifting. He was taller than A' and Elex, Korlin being the towering 6''6' giant that he was. David was the most sly and cunning of the 4, his slender and mildly muscular format giving him the, "Like a sir," disguise. Inside, he was the biggest goofball you'd ever even hope to find. Being the fastest and slimmest of them all was a huge plus in that regard; being able to hide in the depths, strike with a pie to the face, and then outrun the raging, cursing, fuming Korlin, David laughing the entire way home.

"Nostalgia towards what? The day you got fired from the taco bell nobody ever went to?" Retorted A'.

"Would you quit all that conspiracy theories and living nightmare crap? We go by here every day, nothing new is gonna happen. It's just an empty old building," Elex snapped. She was always hated it when A' got worried. It was natural for her to support her friends, especially A'. Elex was a short girl, in her low 20's, with long, brunette hair flowing down past her shoulders. With a glowing shade of blue for her eyes, her face was complete and stunning, by some. She was certainly favored among the younger guys in her classes, some of the older ones, too, so she understood pretty well that she was a beautiful young lady. Certainly able to look after herself, she could kick your ass back to the sorry mama you came from if you got too close for comfort. For example, David had a new black eye every month from making a new wise-crack r sexual inuendo involving her. THAT was crossing the, "It's-okay-ill-skip-the-part-where-you-die" line. On the inside, she loved David like a brother, and would never legitimately hurt him. Another thing she kept inside was her liking towards A'. He had always been sweet and kind to her, something that few people, surprisingly, knew how to do without getting on her nerves.

David chimed in "Somebody still wants their tacos…" He put on a cocky grin, shutting A' up.

A' frowned. He had heard of this kind of thing everywhere. He had never had any luck in arguments, especially when defending himself. It wasn't because of his looks, that's for sure. A mild blonde with even brighter highlights, his hair was rather long and elegant. With a rather mild build, he seemed more buff than he was because of his ribcage. A freaking box, as he described it. He didn't have too much self esteem, either, which made him quite quiet and humble. But something was different about him. Something reassuringly saintly of him. As if he had forgotten how to be mean. This was why everybody took a liking to him.

Korlin heisted before asking, "A', seriously, is something wrong?" He was known for being the blunt and straightforward one. A towering giant he was, at six feet, six inches. He bore great muscular capacity, and could smash through a brick wall with his shoulder. More of the, "Don't freaking touch me or ill rip you spinal cord out and use it as a jump-rope," type, he gave the paladin role to himself. His hair was a calm black that connected with the stubble on his chin to fabricate a light goatee. He had trained in a military training camp a while back, but after 4 years of an American _Pax Romana_, he had had enough. The military let him go, and he started his career as a kickboxing trainer. To that day, he was still in the business, with his subtle life as a lone wolf.

"Yeah, I'm alright, it's just that-" A' stopped dead in his tracks.

At the end of the back road they were taking, stood a man.

A half-man.

Staring through his hateful, masked face, directly at the party of unarmed college students.

"No…" A' whispered, audible, but only just. "Not this time. I left you… I left you… in the Otherland…"

Half of his body was made of what A' could make out to be mist. It was radiating off him like wavy streams of light. Two weapons, a sheathed, ominous-looking broadsword and a massive battleaxe, which both radiated a dark aura, were strapped to his back. But most terrifying of all, he had an iron mask covering most portions of his unseen face. It was in the shape of an X; a spiked, jagged X. His eyes could be seen through gaps in the mask, his mouth and lower head revealed through the end of it. The mast didn't just cover his face; it wasn't trying to disguise him. It branched off past the corners of his head, continuing the jagged X shape. Another confusingly ominous thing about him was that, within the mist, was a wrought iron glove and a boot at the bottom, moving on their own, as if there was still a body controlling them. Not to mention the sheer ripped muscle and gigantic biceps (one, that is; the other couldn't be seen). But what made the three college students stare in shock?

He was taking slow, foreboding steps towards them.

"Get away. NOW." Korlin ordered. None protested, other than a screaming, warning A', as Korlin was the most skilled and most protective of them all. The 3 remaining victims of fear sprinted into the building, leaving Korlin alone with the masked hybrid. He was in as much fear as them, but he was ready to fight off this-

A weapon of sorts had been jabbed into his side. But the man was still far away from him. Korlin then noticed the taller man above him. This man had what looked like a giant cannon strapped to his arm, wires and metal crawling and spiraling up it. The other arm had a black leather glove on it, with a dark purple X imprinted into the back. A dark aura was emanating from his glove, just like the man with the mask. Part of this man's face was cybernetic, corrupting it until it reached the nose, holding a red, electronic LED in place of the eye. He had a cigar poking out of the humanized side of his mouth. A jetpack of sorts was keeping him in mid-air, giving him exceeding maneuverability.

But what had been jabbed into his side was something else entirely. A sword-like claw. Three claws, in fact. They were connected to what Korlin could make out as a cloak. The cloak had a similar pair of claws on the other arm. He/she had its entire body covered in the pitch-black cloth, the blades exceeding the length of the cloak. Nothing could be seen inside the hood, as it was darker than the night itself.

The cloak released its grip. Korlin stumbled to his knees. The last thing he remembered was the three men encircling him.

"He is one," the masked man uttered. "One of the pure."

Korlin blacked out. The words rang in his head for the entire time he was unconscious.

And that was for a _long_ time.

* * *

A shatter pierced A's eardrums. He fell to the floor, breathing heavily; spilling out of the glass container he had been held in. In front of him was a man, thankfully not the same one that he had seen a few minutes ago. This man had sandals on, with rather short pants that fell below his knees. He had a shirt with a star with wings branching off of it, all of it being white. But what absolutely stunned A' was when he looked up, he saw wings. A pair of huge, feathery, white wings had grown out of his back. Another aspect of awe was the halo. The halo resting above his head was glistening in the darkness of the lab that A' and the remaining people had stumbled into. He also had a broadsword strapped to his back, with a golden hilt.

"Am I… am I dead?" He inquired to the angelic man.

The winged man just glanced over to him; he had walked over to a different glass tank. Inside the glass tank was another person that he couldn't make out, his vision was still blurred. The angel's (as A' had dubbed him) eyes were a freezing, solid grey-blue, with a reassuring, protective, wise softness within them. A' had a feeling that he would find out later, if he was still in existence or not.

Inside the glass tank was a shark. No, a man. A shark man? A' was VERY confused. When he looked closer, he saw that it was a relatively tall man, with a robin's egg blue color to the skin. Scaly, as the texture of it seemed, his face had a sharp nose to it. The eyes were closed, as he was most likely as unconscious as A' previously was. A curved, mow-hawk-like fin rested at the top of his head. What startled A' the most was the shark's head on his scaly, blue arm. It was the full head of a massive shark, possibly of the great white. The other arm had 5 claws, all about as long as A's shin. The legs of the creature were just as scaly as the body, with feet that resembled fins, but were much more like feet. It had black shorts that had been torn around the knees, and it bore no shirt. Very muscular and fit, he was locked in the containment unit, just like A' had been.

The winged man took his sword and sliced a wire behind the containment unit. It let out a warning _beep_ and shattered the glass. The shark-creature spilled out of the broken glass.

He coughed. "What…"He continued coughing. "…I need to get to Korlin…"Another murderous coughing fit escaped him.

_That voice…_ A' grew thoughtful. He then realized who this was.

"D…David?" A' tested.

David stopped coughing. "What?" He questioned impatiently. Suddenly, as if he had been smacked, he realized. "AAGH!" He cried. "Get this thing off of me!"He commanded, slamming the shark's head onto the concrete floor of the lab.

The angelic man finally spoke up. "Relax, you'll be fine." His voice was soothing, like a hot bath in a tub of butter...

Oh, wait...

David was visibly on the verge of tears, trying not to panic. He looked around the room, where dozens of tanks laid, unbroken. He noticed one that held a recognized face in it: Elex's face. Her shirt was ripped n the lower part of it, revealing her stomach, and nothing more. She wore the same pants she had before, with a few tattered pieces here and there. She had no shoes, and, like all the other beings in the containment units, was levitating. Something had changed, though. Her shoulders had spikes growing up off of them, and her hair had pieces that were differently colored, flowing like a river.

The winged man broke the unit once again, and she fell out of the unit like the others had. She was coughing heavily as well, soon opening her eyes to see the world around her. She saw A' first, some of her worries fading when he was noticed. But then she noticed David. Her worries grew right back up as he looked back at her.

"Don't ask me, I just woke up like this." David assured her.

Elex gasped, recognizing the voice. "You're… Is it really you? Are you David?"

He nodded. "I'm still a little unsure myself."

Still unconvinced, she looked towards A', pleading for an explanation. He just shrugged. Just as confused as her, he turned to the angelic man, who both David and Elex had just noticed for the first time. "Who are you?" A' asked.

"Later," he said, knowing that they all wanted answers. "But for now, you can call me Throne."

They all noticed just how many containment units there were. They all had reptilian-like creatures inside them. Throne went around cutting the wires, releasing one after another, the mutated people spilling out one at a time. After a short intermission of recollection, A' went to help Throne release them faster. Almost all of them were either reptilian creatures or were internally changed, as far as they could tell.

One of the reptilian men grew conscious; his pants torn like David's were, lacking a shirt. He looked around the room.

"A'… what… where are we?"

A' stood there in shock. "…K-…Korlin?"

Korlin looked confused, the pain fading from his eye. "What? What is it?" He looked up, failing to see his head. "Is it my hair?"

A' was in no place to answer that. He looked to Throne for help. Throne looked at him with his cold, grey-blue eyes. His expression told A' that he must tell Korlin himself.

A' stuttered. "Korlin… look…" A' held up a piece of glass, shattered from the containment unit.

Korlin looked at the glass, confused. It hit him. His reflection was in the glass. A man with scaly, forest green skin was in it. A crown of small, bull-like horns sprouted from his temples, reaching for the sky. Two large, jagged objects sprouted from both sides of his neck. They reached up to his forehead, just enough not to obscure his vision. His hands were like the claws of dragon, short, stout, and deadly sharp. To top that off, his eyes had no pupils, no iris. He had a giant scar on his left eye, turning it to a shade of red instead of the pale grey-white abyss.

In utter shock and disbelief, the man that was now Korlin was taken aback by the image in the shard of crystallized sand. He ran out the door, visibly on the verge of a breakdown.

Now, it took _a lot _to make Korlin sad. Pain was virtually invisible to his nerves. You could stab him in the face with a ignited sauntering iron and he'd tell you to fuck off and stop playing with matches. It took pain _from the heart_ to make him remotely disturbed. A change to the way everybody looks at him, talks to him, how they treat him for the rest of his life? Pretty big punch in the stomach. This guy had a reason.

The other reptilian creatures started to stir. The most stunning of these was a man without legs. He had no legs, but a tail. His head was like that of a cobra; flaps of skin connecting the top of his head to where his chin meets the neck. The teeth were like that of a snake, he had eyes that were burning with a radiant, grudging orange. He bore arms that were extremely muscular, with a flaming, skeletal claw with none of his reptilian skin on it. One hand was a massive, burning blade, like the edge of a scythe. His tail, which substituted for legs, had a massive, burning sword at the end of it. On his scaly, green chest bore a jagged, black and purple V.

The man rose, adjusting his posture to an observational angle. He looked at A', and jumped back as if he had been struck.

"No… it can't be true… no, no, no, NO! IT BRINGS APOUN US LIES!" He hissed, and slithered out of the room. "Come, brethren! Rebel against the Artlilic and bring the earth to its former glory!" The reptilian men roared and hissed, dashing off along with the snake man.

Throne looked displeased and thoughtful. "We need to get going. Grab your friend and I'll tie up some loose ends for you." A' and Elex looked distraught, unsure if they should follow him. But this guy had freed them from the bad guys. He seemed to be on their side. Not to mention he was a FUCKING ANGEL.

* * *

Rainbow Dash was flying through Evertree forest, looking in every each direction. Yesterday, she had seen a pegasus that was unlike any she had seen before. It had a blonde "mane" that was only on his head and face, not down his neck. His hooves were like little tails on the ends of his arms. Its wings were _huge, _white mattresses of fluffy gracefulness. He bore a sword that was longer than she was (shut up, I'm talking about her body length. No futa-dash here.). But most of all, he stood on two legs. This was something that rainbow was curious about.

"Hello? Mr. Huge pegasus! Heloooo?" She called. No answer. "Darn…" She kept on flying, going deeper into the everfree. _This pony might need help, going so far into the everfree alone_, she thought.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Cutting off the forest in a fine line, was the biggest, reddest desert she had ever seen. Nothing was here. Nothing but desert and flames.

Wait… flames?

A massive pillar of fire busted out of what looked like a rock from where she was. As nimble as she was, she smoothly dodged the surprise campfire. She looked closer to see that it was a red chicken.

"Gee, somebody's a little touchy, Mr. Mcflameyeggs." She was retorted by a squawk as loud as a clap of thunder. Rainbow squealed and dashed back into the everfree… until she noticed the figure she was looking for. In an instant change of direction of her thought train, she soared past Mr. Mcflameyeggs (As she had dubbed him) and was heading towards the silhouettes in the vast desert. She stopped in front of the creatures. To her surprise, it was actually the same creature as before, with blonde hair and two legs. The others varied and shapes, sizes, and skin tones. One of them even looked like a shark. They all stood the same way as the winged one.

"Hey," She started, "You were in Evertree forest yesterday."

The winged creature nodded. "I guess I wasn't as secretive as I thought." He chuckled, as if a blue pony with wings was perfectly normal. "My name is Throne. What might be yours?"

"Me? I'm the fastest flier in Equestira, the one and only Rainbow Dash!" She stood proudly, her chin up high.

The others were stunned, with their faces aghast. Not only were they in a random desert in the middle of scenic nowhere, but they were confused as a cow walking out of a Scottish pub.

"Er… I'm… *ahem*…" They all introduced themselves with awkward introductions, unable do decipher what was going on.

"So is there anywhere we can stay for the night? " Throne asked.

"Oh, sure! Come to Ponyville, somebody's sure to let you stay for a while!"

Throne had a gentlemanly look on his face. "Thank you kindly, Ms. Dash."

Rainbow blushed. "Oh, just call me rainbow. I'm no s."

Dash led them through the forest, taking a safe route through the everfree. She explained to them the history of equestria, how Canterlot was made, and the like. They finally arrived at sweet apple acres, or at least on the edge of it.

Korlin spoke up for the first time in hours. "Erm… Throne? You never explained to us where we are, or what the hell is going on."

A dark expression grew on his face. "That," he said, "Is a tale, I fear, that you won't like so much."

_**END CHAPTER ONE**_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Divided**

**Chapter 2: Unfold**

_Author's note: I deeply apologize for the lack of content in the last chapter. I did a bad job explaining and there weren't as many ponies as there should have been. This story is about every developed idea I ever had ever since I was a child. Also, this chapter is much more informative and less immature, I apologize again for being stupid in my last upload._

"Why wouldn't we believe you?" David inquired.

Throne took a deep breath. "I am a Haosian. The Haosians are race of intelligent beings residing in the world, 'Haos,' or, 'Light.' As the last Guardian Haosian, it is my job to guard the last of you. By the last of you, I mean the _last of you._ You are the only pure humans left on earth."

The party of four's faces contorted in confusion and humor. What was he talking about?

"You think I'm kidding?" Throne had a stern look in his cold, blue-grey eyes. "Observe." He held out his palm. A floating swirl of white energy was released from his palm; it had silver, gold, and grey inscriptions dancing around on the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes, and his voice released an inaudible incantation. The flying hieroglyphs halted, and seemed to grow larger, glow, and fade away. A vision was created above his cupped hand.

The moving picture was now an orb, showing a starling image. People were running through the streets screaming, destroying, and burning down buildings. They all had a menacing look in their eyes.

"What is this?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"The past." Throne answered, looking towards the group of humans. "This is what your people had become. They were corrupted by their own sin; their own fault; their own decisions. They let themselves be consumed by greed, broken with hatred. They wiped themselves off the face of the planet. Humanity, as you knew it, is gone."

They all went silent, sullen looks on their faces. They were still trying to process what had happened during the course of that day. It was impossible for humanity to go extinct in a day.

But yesterday was years ago.

"So humanity wiped _itself _off the earth? That's highly unlikely," Korlin sneered.

"Technically, yes," Throne answered, ignoring the disbelief in Korlin's voice. The vision moved towards a pit. This pit was a swirling, red vortex, with tooth-like spikes jutting from its perimeter. Beings that A' perceived as demons crawled out from the newly formed gap in the earth. They cackled and howled, spewing fire and terror among the people. "_This_ is what wiped away humanity." A massive, muscular, grey monster crawled out from the depths. It was probably ten feet tall, a drill-like horn mounted at the top of its forehead. Popping red veins crawled over his arms, meeting the circular holes in his palms. The muscular, raging, hellish beast let out a great roar, and fire, magma, and ash spewed from its arms.

"_YOU SHALL PAY," _The beast howled, _"THE PRICE OF HATRED!"_

The people were instantly incinerated, a wave of red energy sweeping across the land, vaporizing the corrupted humanity.

Throne's hand closed the vision fading. All the gathered foreigners, man and pony, were in utter shock and confusion.

"No," A' forewarned. "They told me this would happen…"

Throne looked confused, but Korlin gestured to him, as if saying_ forget it. _

"How did you make that cloudy white stuff with your hand?" asked Elex.

"Hehe… cloudy white stuff…" David chimed in, but Korlin just jabbed him in the side, sending him into a semi-crying-laughing fit.

"That," Throne replied, "Was the essence. It is a powerful force of ancient energy as old as time itself."

Everybody, especially Rainbow and Korlin, were bewildered, so he went into further detail. "The essence is the concentrated material of everything. For example, the essence I used was the essence of light. There are 6 main categories of essence; Fire, ice, water, thunder, light, and darkness."

"So darkness is bad, I assume?"Korlin said.

"No, no, no, of course not. It is just manipulated very easily..." His expression darkened. "… By the corrupt. What you saw in the Haon premonition was the corrupt being released. They are what thrived under the masks of humanity's faults – Greed, fear, hatred, chaos… they were released when humanity reached its breaking point. They let hell into their lives, and where wiped off the face of the earth."

"What does that have to do with the "essence"?" Rainbow inquired.

"Everything. They are trying to corrupt the pure essence and feed it to the impure essence."

_Oh dear god this is confusing,_ everybody thought at once.

"The pure and impure essence is what creates conflict in the world. Of each elemental essence there is a pure and impure essence of that element. For each of these there is a bearer." He looked at the four of them. "That's where you come in."

The four foreigners and the 1 pony stared at Throne in disbelief.

"What makes you think that's us?" Elex inquired.

"Well, you're the only human beings (which we know there are less than 100 left) on the face of the planet that have not been corrupted, as far as we know."

"That still doesn't explain why we look so… different." Korlin hesitantly asked.

"Ah. Well, it seems that your appearance has matched your personalities."

"Well, why didn't Elex and I change?" said A'.

"You did. It just hasn't been brought out yet from you two. Oh, and you two guys aren't _constantly _going to look like that. You can change any time you want, really."

"How? I want to be able to wipe my ass without clawing through it." David remarked, getting a laugh from Rainbow and a punch in the side from Korlin.

"Easy. Close your eyes first." The two men did as they were told, the multicolored-mane pony observing in interest. "Now think of yourselves riding a pig while chasing cows through a field.

They opened their eyes in surprise. "Wha?" They simultaneously exclaimed.

Throne laughed. "Just kidding. Close your eyes and think of yourselves, wearing whatever clothes you had on before."

Once again, they followed directions. Sitting at the edge of sweet apple acres, they waited, concentrating on what they looked like. Nothing happened. A minute passed, and Rainbow was getting tired of waiting.

"Okay, I don't think this is working. I can get you guys a place to sta-"

"Now, just what," a familiar orange pony accused, "do ya'll think you're doin' with that?"

David froze in his tracks. He had plucked an apple off a tree, about to gobble it up through his new, shark-like teeth. "I, uh… heheh…" He gave a nervous laugh.

Rainbow spoke up. "Sorry, AJ, we were just on our way. These strange guys were wandering around Evertree forest, and don't have a home to stay in. Do you think you could take one of 'em in? They're pretty new to everything around here, and they're certainly not from Equestria."

Applejack examined them, wondering what kind of creatures they could be. Dragons? One looked like a dragon, it was a possibility. Monkeys? No, they had less hair than monkeys. Well, they seemed civilized enough, and they didn't look so mean. "Hm… Well, as long as they won't do no damage to the farm no more, I can take one. And as long as you're ready to sleep on a stack of hay."

Throne smiled. "Thank you so much, miss… what was your name?"

"Name's Applejack. And don't go referring to me as some sorta' fancy, high-class _missie_. Ain't none of them round this farm."

"So which one of you is going to stay here for a few nights?"Rainbow asked.

A' stepped forward slowly. "… I guess I can. Never hurt to be around vegetables."

"Alrighty then, you can come back on here to the barn whenever yer ready. Now, I never caught yer names, what would they be?"

"I'm A'. Pleasure to meet you."

Elex smiled. "I'm Elex."

"My name is Throne." He stood at his full six feet, shaking AJ's hoof.

"David." He grinned politely.

"Korlin."He looked away, leaning on a tree with his arms crossed; still angered that he couldn't change his body back.

AJ gave an amused smile. She leaned towards Rainbow, who was next to her. "Well he's just one big ray of sunshine, ain't he?" She whispered.

Rainbow shrugged. "I dunno. Just met them this morning"

Everybody was standing. "Well, we better get going. I got a busy schedule ahead of me, so we gotta get you guys all settled in by three." Rainbow led them to the exit of the farm, heading down the road to Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie was hopping through the fields outside of Fluttershy's house. She had been invited for tea this morning, along with Rarity and Twilight. Pinkie never really liked tea without massive amounts of sugar in it, and cupcakes to go along with it. Fluttershy had given them fruit-filled muffins and herbal green tea, which didn't even have any sugar in it, so pinkie was more entertained by the butterflies in her backyard than drinking.

"Hey this one is purple! PURPLE! Just like you, Twilight! Ooh! This one is yellow like you, Fluttershy! YELLOW! And OH MY GOSH it's a pink one! AAAAH! We should be friends little butterfly cause you're all pink and I'm all pink and stuff and my name is pinkie pie I bet you didn't know that cause you just met me and stuff and weEEBADAHIBADABABABABABABOOD OOOOOZEEEE!" She was bouncing up and down, uncontrollably twitching in every single way. She suddenly stopped. "That means I'm about to meet somebody! It' a real DOOZIE of a person!"

Twilight sighed. "Oh god, I'm never going to find out how or why she does that."

"Oh, lighten up, dearie; just let the little filly have her fun." Rarity gallantly took a sip of her tea.

"But she never even told us how she does it! Isn't that mysterious in the least to you?"

Fluttershy wasn't really in the mood to listen to her friends argue, so she diverted her attention to…

… The group of tall silhouettes walking towards her house in the forest.

She gasped. "Um… excuse me, girls…" she said, quieter than a mouse.

The two friends were still debating, now over why Rarity didn't practice her magic enough.

"…Twilight, Rarity… do you see those..."

The silhouettes were growing closer every second.

"THERE ARE MONSTERS COMING FROM THE FOREST EVERYPONY RUUUN!"

The three panicking ponies screamed, running around in circles, bumping into each other and shouting warnings. Of course, pinkie was too obsessed with chasing rabbits to notice in the least.

Rainbow dash emerged from the forest first. "What are you guys screaming about?!

"RAINBOW DASH RUN THERE ARE MONSTERS COMING!" Fluttershy screamed.

Throne and Elex emerged next, alarmed at all the shouting.

"Would you three just calm your tits? There are no monsters! These guys are just my new friends."

The three crazed ponies settled down. Twilight was still shaking a bit. "I don't need calming down! It was highly illogical for there to be monsters so close to here anyway. I wasn't scared." Rarity rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Anyway, look at these guys! Found 'em around the forest, and they looked lost, so I brought them here! Pretty neat looking', huh?"

Rarity examined Korlin and David, who both had just came from the forest. "Oh MY, your choice in clothing is simply out of DATE! You shan't be walking around my town in just bottoms like cave ponies!" She then realized that they were (1.) On two legs, and (2.) looked like dragons and sharks. "Aren't you two a bit… _different_ from the others?"

David just smiled and slid up to her. "Well I don't see anybody like us around here so, yes; I would say we're different." He looked over to Korlin, an impish grin on his face. "Especially that guy." He leaned over in a fake whisper. "He's a grump and acts like he's a transsexual plumber when nobody's looking."

Korlin's eyes widened. "What lies are you feeding to her about me?"

Rarity giggled. "Oh, he sounds like GREAT fun. Now, what would your names be?"

"My name is David. The green one is Korlin, the one with wings is Throne, and the normal one is A'. The other one is Elex.

Elex frowned. "I'm not normal?"

David manically grinned. "You smell normal to be normal."

"Well, after all that's happened today, I guess NOTHING'S normal anymore. I mean, there are freaking unicorns. What next? Wizards?"

"_FUCKING_ WIZZARDS," A' corrected.

Pinkie pie materialized behind them. "HI! You look funny! Are you funny ponies? Oh wait, you're not ponies you're monkeys! Wait, monkey's aren't bald on their bodies! Then you must be dragons cause you're all green and scaly! Oh, wait, silly me, only one of you is green! Blabbidy bla blabalalbalbalba…" She rambled on while skipping.

"Wait," Korlin spoke up. "This pony is all…"

"Pink…" Elex finished.

"Excuse us for a moment." They both turned around to the nearest two barrels and vomited out rainbows.

"Do they all do that?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, it's a rare condition when something overly cute, sappy, or pink shows up," Elex said. "It can only happen twice in a day or so, though."

The ponies were still confused. Fluttershy finally spoke up. "So… Mr. Throne, sir, do you need anything from us? We were having a tea party, so there's plenty of food for you all." She examined them more thoroughly, noticing that A's ribs could be seen through his shirt. "Oh, dear, you must be starving! Come inside, all of you; I'll fix you something to eat."

The 5 happily obliged, walking into her house with the other 4 ponies. They all barely fit through the door, Korlin smacking his head against the top with a grumble.

Fluttershy came out of the kitchen after a minute or two to find them patiently waiting for their lunch, David asleep on the table. Elex jabbed her elbow into his side and he groggily sat up, wall-eyed.

"I want sure what to prepare for you… so I just threw together some TLT sandwiches…" She looked over at Korlin and David and gasped. "Oh my goodness they're carnivores…"

"Oh no, no, we're… err… omnivores! We eat… uh…"

"Fish!" David finished. "And that's the only type of meat we'd ever think of eating! Yeah!"

Fluttershy expelled a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness fish are unintelligent creatures …So tuna is okay for you to eat?"

They all nodded. Fluttershy handed them the food and they happily ate it. "Mm, is there tofu in here?" Pinkie asked.

"Of course, Pinkie, that's why it's a TLT; tuna, lettuce and tofu!"

Pinkie smiled and nommed the sandwitch down. "Om nom nom, dish is sho yurmmytastic! NOM NOM!"

A' grinned. "Hey, she eats like you, David!" David was too busy trying to figure out how to pick up his food with a shark mouth on his hand to respond.

"So back to the subject of why you brought them here, Rainbow." Twilight proposed."What exactly was your reason?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, they're on this crazy important mission or something and the 4 wingless ones needed a place to stay and stuff." Rainbow responded.

"Hm… well, I guess can take one of you in. Any volunteers?" Twilight offered.

"I can go with you. Where do you live?" Elex asked.

"Oh, I live down at the library. I can take you there later."

Elex nodded with a smile. "Sure, thanks."

Pinkie gave one of her rare frowns. "Oh, I'd love to help but I have no extra space at the Cakes' and stuff and I'm sure they wouldn't like to have like 2 ponies cramped into one room, you know?"

Fluttershy came out from under her hair, which drooped down along her face, allowing her to draw back when needed. "I… guess I might be able to take somebody…"

Korlin had his arms and legs crossed, leaning on a pole that held up Fluttershy's porch roof."Okay. I'll stay here, if you want."

"Okay…"Fluttershy responded. _Oh no the scary green one accepted… I knew I shouldn't have offered…_

"Well," Rarity said. "I have plenty of spare space for somebody to stay."

Everybody looked back at David . He was too busy talking to butterflies with Pinkie to pay attention to the conversation. He pointed to one with his dully bladed finger. "Gimmie yo money or the blue one gets it!" He burst into laughter after realizing how ridiculous he looked.

"David! You're staying with Rarity!" Elex called out.

"The white one?" He responded, a snort coming from Rarity.

"Yeah."

"That just leaves me." Throne addressed.

A' was confused. "Don't you have your own home?"

"Technically, no. I'm not so welcome in Haos anymore."

David frowned, having come over to the place they were in. "I know how you feel, bro. I was kicked out of the house when I was 7. Lived on the streets ever since."

"No, no, it's not like that." Throne said. "Very long story, we can discuss that later."

Something connected in Rainbow Dash's head. "Wait, you have wings, right? So you'll be able to walk on clouds too?"

"Indeed I can."

"So I guess you can stay with me in Cloudsdale for a bit." She shook his hand with her hoof. "Welcome aboard, Mr. Throne."

"Thank you kindly." He smiled.

"So are we all set?" Twilight asked.

"Yup, that's about it." A' confirmed.

"Alrighty then, Elex, I'll get you settled in at the library.

Elex stood up. "Okay, th-"She was cut off by the teleportation that sent twilight and her back to her house.

"Was that… dark essence? In a blank country…?" Throne mumbled, his face having a look of surprise on his face.

"What's this 'essence` I keep hearing about?" Rainbow spoke. "Is it magic? 'Cause I don't know crud about magic."

Throne sighed. "That, again, is a long story. I guess I should tell you guys, huh?"

"Ooh! I" know! It's a brand of cupcake! Totally! It has pi-" She was cut off by Rarity's hoof over her mouth.

"Go on, dear. We have time for long stories, anyway." Rarity offered.

Throne took a deep breath. "Oh, boy, twice in one day."

Throne explained the entire science and history of the essence. He left out the part where the humans came from and their demise. That would bring the land of Equestria into danger.

"You have to promise me not to tell _anybody_ but your friend Twilight. And your friend Applejack, if she's going to be keeping A' on her farm for now.

"We promise." Four of the ponies chorused.

"Yes, but do you _pinkie_ promise?" said the fifth, overcaffeinated one.

They grew unamused expressions. "Cross my heart and hope to pie, stick a cupcake in my eye…"

Rarity looked out the window. "Oh, my, it really _has_ gotten dark. Well, we best get going." Rainbow and Pinkie nodded.

"So do I go off _that _way?" A' gulped. "…In the dark forest?!"

Korlin rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a baby. If you _do _run into anything dangerous, try doing what I've taught you. You're never alone in a forest, remember that."

Throne went over to A'. "I almost forgot about these."He handed A' two gloves and cuffs. They were tattooed with six hieroglyphs or runes around their outside. The gloves had a mark on them; a white star cut off in dead center by a black and purple half-orb with pitch black flames or waves jutting out from its poles. A' put the leather, fingerless gloves and stone cuffs on. "They're lighter than they look."

"So what do I do with them?" A' inquired, clearly not thrilled with his weapon of choice.

"That's the fun part. Move that part in the middle of the cuffs to whatever glyph you want. You'll figure out the rest." Throne flew off after rainbow, leaving A' alone outside of Fluttershy's house. He reluctantly stepped into the forest, walking down the path in darkness.

He was halfway to sweet apple acres. Every little root, every little pebble, was nightmare fuel, crawling through the barriers of fear that had already been breached by the years of psychotic hell his mind had gone through.

His thought was interrupted by the explosion that had gone off in the distance. Cries of fear and panic that he was all too familiar with came very soon after. He looked in the direction and saw the tinge of orange flames burning through the blackness of the night sky. It was as if he was in a movie, or a book, or a fanfiction…

Instinctively, he sprinted off in the direction of the rising terror.


End file.
